Poetic License
Diane Elayne Dees


The young poet gestures and rants
about sexism, racism, gun violence.
Then she turns her attention
to “the older people” who call her type
“libtards” and thereby stereotype
her entire generation. I, the older poet,
grit my teeth and wait for the reading
to end. I didn’t bring any political
poems to read; I wish I had.
She might have been embarrassed,
she might have stopped to think.
She might have looked at me and seen
a Second Wave activist, a lifelong
fighter on her side of the war.
Instead, she gestures and rants--
and stereotypes my entire generation.